They effectively backed Trump into a corner. He needed to show leadership when the media was screaming about Americans dying everywhere you look. So he put Fauci front and center and took daily meetings and by all optics he let the scientists do science.

If the vaccine turns out to be a killer, he can say with full credibility that he is a businessman/president and not a scientist. Fauci and all the scientists told him the vaccine was effective and necessary.

So, Trump neutered the Left's cry that he didn't lead. He neutered their cry that he didn't listen to science. And he continues to neuter their ability to perhaps claim that he undermined the vaccine/science.

But he never gave up on the notion that the virus came from China and that Americans played a role in getting it there, funding it, and unwisely kowtowing to the WHO.

So Trump still has a massive opening to say later, "It turns out that Fauci and his scientists were compromised and gave me daily advice that was better for the vaccine makers and the CCP and the Dems than it was for the lives of Americans. I listened to the science and the science was both flawed and corrupt."